With the public still up in arms over Utah's participation in the supercomputer database known as MATRIX, lawmakers say Utahns have something else to be worried about.

Private companies are watching every click of your computer mouse, recording every password, every site visited, every product purchased, maybe even monitoring your bank account, said Rep. Steve Urquhart, R-St. George, who is sponsoring HB323, targeted at so-called "spyware" that infects 60 to 80 percent of all home computers and virtually every computer in libraries and other public settings.

"It's even more insidious than MATRIX," said Rep. Sheryl Allen, R-Bountiful.

What is it? According to Ben Edelman, a national expert on intellectual property, it is a computer program — and there are thousands of them out there — that automatically downloads and wraps its tentacles around your computer operating system, usually during the process of clicking on a pop-up ad or downloading a "free" computer program.

Almost always, "it is a program installed without the informed consent" of the computer owner, he said.

HB323 makes it illegal to create or install spyware, and allows for $10,000 in damages for each violation.

It also authorizes the Utah Division of Consumer Protection to start collecting data on complaints about spyware so that lawmakers can de- velop legislation for next session that would likely include sanctions and "causes of action" against the companies engaged in the practice.

The problem was brought to Urquhart's attention by the Utah-based 1-800-CONTACTS, a direct marketer of contact lenses that found that spyware was being used by competitors so that anytime a customer logged onto the company Web site they would see pop-up ads from competitors. In most cases, the origin of the ads were veiled so that customers thought they were from 1-800-CONTACTS even though they were not.

The company is now in litigation over the spyware programs that hijacked their Web site, said Jay Magure, director of legislative affairs for 1-800-CONTACTS.

Doug Foxley, a lobbyist for eBay, AOL Time Warner and others, said the Internet industry has some concerns about the bill, and he promised to work out the differences with Urquhart before the bill comes to a floor vote in the House.

HB323 is one of several Internet privacy bills working their way through the Legislature this year. Those have also met with opposition by companies whose lifeblood is the Internet.

According to a group called Internet Alliance, "We believe that state regulation of Internet privacy will not work, will be impossible and costly to enforce, and ultimately confuse customers," wrote Emily Hackett in a letter to Urquhart and the House Public Utilities and Technology Committee.